Gallery Talk: Divine Defense: A Closer Look at VMFA’s Talismanic Shirt

Join Dr. Rose Muravchick, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow of Religion at Vassar College, and Dr. John Henry Rice, VMFA’s Associate Curator of Islamic and South Asian Art, for a look at the 15th–16th-century Talismanic Shirt in VMFA’s South Asian collection. The presenters will look closely at this unusual object, exploring how and why the entire text of the Qur’an was inscribed in nearly microscopic detail on its delicate fabric. In addition to discussing questions of construction, theories about its use and function will be offered.